Heroes War School

Comment: Will be working on this page by Lupus to make it easier to read. --AFRICANDAVE 00:48, 10 June 2015 (UTC)

Prologue
Firstly, welcome to this guide. Before we start, I would like to point out that I consider myself relatively new to this game – with about 100 hours in-game – but nevertheless I feel that I know enough to be able to contribute to the creation of a hopefully more knowledgeable player base. I have a decent amount of experience gathered from a multitude of other games with similar concepts, but I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that are way better and as someone who wants to improve, you should always aim to advance further and seek further information. For this particular guide I wish to discuss several aspects of the FPS side of this game which I find imperative or at the very least helpful to become a better player; aim, movement, teamwork and tactics.

As a player taking part in the FPS side, you have a fairly wide selection of unit types, roles, armament, vehicles and equipment. When you first start, you will have a semi-automatic rifle, M1 Garand/Gewehr 43/SVT-40. It is also recommended to unlock and purchase the hand grenade as soon as possible, to build a versatile starter loadout. The rifle you have is precise enough to hit enemies as far as a hundred meters away, but still has the firepower to compete with automatic weapons close up. The hand grenades are great for damaging a group of enemy infantry or dislodging someone who is holed up around a corner or behind cover; even if it doesn’t kill them, it will regardless force them to move out of their hiding positions. So let’s look at some tactics that individual players can employ.

In every FPS it’s important to be capable of aiming. Just like in reality, anyone can pick up a gun and fire it in a general direction, but mastering it is something entirely different. How big of an importance aim has in a FPS varies. While in some games it’s more about position and who shoots first, in others it’s more important to aim both fast and accurately. In Heroes and Generals, it pays off more to do the latter, as in aiming fast but accurately. Most weapons require you to hit someone several times to kill them, and weapons' damage can decrease even more with distance.

As a new or experienced player, I’m sure you’ve had situations where you shot someone many times, but then they shot and killed you with just one shot or a couple. This brings us to a vital point; always aim for the head. Head shots deal four times as much damage as body shots. Some weapons like submachine guns are weak damage-wise. This encourages players to land headshots with these weapons, since they have very high manueverability, and fairly good accuracy similar to light machine guns. By aiming for the head, you will greatly increase your combat efficiency when facing the enemy.

So how can I improve my aim? Firstly, you should take advantage of the bot matches that new players first start off in. You should have mouse acceleration disabled and find a mouse sensitivity that optimally you keep across different games and stick with. This will in the longer run improve your muscle memory, which means you will eventually be able to just instinctively aim with speed and pinpoint accuracy. Although the mouse sensitivity is something you have to test out, I’ve seen that usually a lower setting is good, like one sweep across the entire mouse pad turns your character 360 degrees. A lower setting is good, since it allows you to make smaller movements on screen to be extremely accurate, while a higher setting makes it harder to adjust in a similar way; for the quicker movements on screen with a lower setting, you simply use more of your arm to move the aim further.

So what are the concrete ways of training? In the training room, you can change the setting s around and practice on the A.I. A great way to improve your aim and warming up for other practices, is to find some very specific points at different angles and ranges to aim at, and then practice switching from aiming at one specific point to another specific point. For this exercise, as well as the others, you should start going as slow as necessary to maintain good “form”; stressing about the need to aim quickly and disregarding accuracy will only decrease your performance in the short-and long term. In the tutorial as well as in the game in general, you should train at aiming perfectly, meaning you aim at a specific point at the enemy’s head and make every shot count – not just 1 shot 1 kill, but 1 shot 1 headshot. As mentioned, not only is this ensuring a kill, but it also means you conserve your ammo and by firing less you’re also harder for enemies to pinpoint.

Secondly, you should start getting into the habit of getting into a “rhythm” when you fire. This might seem weird, but if you practice by let’s say counting “1,2,3” slowly as you go through the process of aiming and then firing, it is an additional way of improving muscle memory as mentioned before. Thirdly, visualize hitting the enemy before you actually fire, which will mentally prepare you to actually aim perfectly before you fire; you should seldom fire in panic and then adjust after a few shots, but rather make the first shot count as often as possible. Fourthly, whether you are moving or stationary, always try to predict where the enemy is or is likely about to be, and then “pre-aim” towards that area – by getting into the habit of always aiming at head level as you move around, you can more often than not get some quick and devastating shots off.

It should also be said that different weapons and situations require different ways of aiming. In general, you should aim down your sights and only move without worsening your aim. One exception to the whole “1 shot 1 headshot”, is especially true up close: up close, especially with rapid firing weapons such as SMGs, it can be very effective to run and blind fire at enemies. This is because a lot of players struggle to hit a moving target, and up close the blind fire is, albeit somewhat risky and random, accurate enough. What’s important to note here, is that you should still be aiming for their heads and fire in short bursts – only use full auto if you’re literally in their face. With aim, it’s also important to put yourself in a position that minimizes the chance of missing and using the weapon’s advantages to full effect. To shortly address different weapons:

These are best used at medium range where the combination of fire rate and precision make these very deadly in the right hands. The semi-automatic rifles have the best hip-fire accuracy in the game when the user is standing still, making them viable for close combat even when a scope is equipped. In close range battles, you can hipfire the weapon quickly while moving sideways. Only two shots are required to kill an enemy with the right modifications.

These are great at medium-long range, but will struggle up close against pretty much any other weapon; these can however be modified to be 1 shot kill even when hitting the opponent in the body, if the opponent does not use the Heavy Set badge. The bolt-action rifles have pinpoint accuracy, even at extreme ranges. Recons can use a special 8x scope on these rifles, while infantry can use a regular scope, but with a clearer reticle than the one available to semi-automatic rifles.

Very solid weapons for staying up close from the enemy. Their light weight and high accuracy while turning makes them best suited for point-blank range combat. Machine guns can be hard to deal with due to their sheer power; counter them by aiming for the head and/or moving sideways to force them to rotate around with their heavy weapons, impairing their accuracy and buying you more time to eliminate them.

Machine guns in Heroes and generals are very powerful, arguably as they should be. Fully automatic firing is very powerful for close quarters combat, and some machine guns even provide a good hip-fire accuracy. For longer ranges, shooting in short bursts and crouching enables you to engage accurately. Position is very important as a MG, since you’re slow and can’t afford to change positions and angles too quickly. Machine guns can even be used against planes.

Assault Rifles

The StG-44 is the one true assault rifle in the game. The name "Sturmgewehr" literally translates to "Storm rifle", a rifle used to "storm" or assault an enemy position. There are two other automatic rifles for the other factions as well, and they serve somewhat different purposes. These weapons are most useful from medium to close range, though the AVS-36 is more suited for longer ranges, the M1/M2 Carbine better for closer ranges, and the StG-44 in between. They are fairly expensive to maintain, especially with a scope, but very versatile and powerful.

Costing only two points, pistols can be a solid option to fall back to if you use a bolt-action rifle, or if your primary weapon requires frequent reloads in battle. Pistols can easily kill enemies in two or three shots with upgraded ammo, making them trusty weapons in close quarters. Beware though, as upgrading their rate of fire makes them extremely expensive to maintain. Pistols also come in handy in anti-tank loadouts - pistols can be used to defend yourself if you are an infantry using a rocket launcher, or a paratrooper using anti-tank grenades or mines.

Melee weapons are silent and do not need ammunition nor repairs. They are great options when you manage to sneak up behind enemy lines. Shovels and knives kill enemies in two shots to the body, while the Adjustable Wrench kills in three shots. It is always advised to aim for the head when using a melee weapon, as they will instantly dispatch an enemy with one swing.

Whether it’s regular hand grenades or AT grenades, as you throw you get a red arc showing the trajectory of the grenade and where it will land. As such, you can throw these pretty much anywhere you want, through windows, into small rooms and over and around cover. Grenades are great for smoking enemies out or just outright kill them, particularly a well-entrenched one or a group. If you’re outnumbered, throwing a few grenades at the enemies as well as using your other guns can help you out by damaging, killing and confusing. Explosive weapons damage teammates, and one can report other players for dealing team damage to them or their vehicles. Enough report instances can get the team-killer kicked from the match.

These can be effective even up to medium range against any land vehicle, provided you aim right. It will usually take a couple of shots to kill armor. If you happen to be one of the few that have these on your team and you’re up against lots of vehicles, make sure to use it. They have a long reload time and high credit cost. They work similarly to the Panzerfausts found in crates within objectives.

As the bullets are actual projectiles in this game, you have to do something called “leading” the target, simply meaning you aim in front of the target if it moves. Different weapons have different projectile velocities, soldiers and vehicles can move at different speeds and angles and the longer the distance, the longer it takes for the projectile to get there. Thusly, this is something you basically just have to experiment with and practice to become good at, but it should be said that you ought to still aim for the head on running soldiers – it’s easier to hit a running soldier far away once in the head, than it’s to hit a running soldier far away repeatedly as he tries to dodge shots and moves to cover. Furthermore, try to find a pattern as you experiment; at a certain range, instead of constantly having to guesstimate, try to see if lining up the enemy with for example the side of the sight enables you to reliably and consistently hit them. If according to circumstances it’s hard to take accurate shots, even just shooting in bursts at them might land you a lucky hit.

To avoid being seen, shot at, hit and putting yourself tactically in the best position in relation to the situation, you need to learn how to move and place yourself smartly. Again, this is something that takes practice and experience, but there are some ground rules that can help you out.

Firstly, move and position yourself in cover and concealment as much as possible. Cover is anything that will stop the enemy from being able to shoot at you and hit you, while concealment is anything that will prevent the enemy from seeing and observing you; therefore all cover is concealment, and cover can for example be a thick wall while concealment can be a set of bushes. If there is little or no cover or concealment, try to utilize the little that exist or even better move to a better location. You will happen to come across places where there literally is nothing to help you in this matter, open big fields being the epitome here, on which I will recommend that you try to avoid areas like these and if it’s unavoidable, move as fast as possible and wiggle back and forth if shot at – “serpentine”. Optimally you try to always stay in cover and concealment and limit any exposure in open areas with quick movement across; like sprinting across the street at the shortest crossing point and preferably with some obstructions along the way to cover you at least slightly. This goes for showing yourself when shooting too; show as little as possible, only peek out the amount necessary to be able to see and fire. Most cover and concealment is directional, meaning it will only cover or conceal you from certain sides and angles and not do so from other sides and angles, which is why it’s imperative to attempt to constantly assess what’s going on around you and move and place yourself accordingly. So in short, use the trees, the ridges, the valleys, the bushes, the buildings, the rocks and so on to your advantage.

Secondly, a displacing enemy is a dangerous enemy. Even if you are in a good spot, you should try to keep on the move and constantly fire from one spot, before you then quickly move to another spot before firing again. This is because even strong positions can often have weaknesses, and it’s enough to have a few disgruntled enemies, a group of enemies or a skilled player figuring you out to easily become your demise if you keep popping out around the same corner or same window again and yet again. There are a few instances where you might want to stay put – at least for the moment - , like if you’re covering an advance that’s already taking all the fire. You can also pull off a “bluff”, particularly facing good opponents; on one hand, you shouldn’t pop out twice from the same corner, but on the other hand a good opponent might expect that, so waiting just a bit and then popping out might work out anyways.

Thirdly, use thy camouflage. Camouflage is basically trying to hide, blend in with the surroundings and deceive the enemy by clever use of clothing and surroundings. Regardless of whether you have special camouflage clothing on or not, you can still to the best of your ability try to hide behind objects blocking sight, make sure your silhouette, colors and textures blend in with the surroundings and background, avoid skylining – standing on top of a ridge or rooftop with the sky in the background, making you look like a dark figure matched up with a light background -, avoid moving excessively, suddenly and fast when in a good spot – movement, particularly fast movement, attracts the eye - , avoid running along water – somewhat similar to skylining -, hide in the shadows – extremely effective in this game - , avoid loud unnecessary sounds, avoid hiding in obvious places like on the peak of hills or even worse park a jeep on top too for everyone to see – been countless of “sneaky” snipers I’ve found that way – and use the stances to get into any sneaky spot you might find. This is a very extensive topic, and I suggest you check out further material elsewhere if interested.

Fourthly, gain and use the high ground. By being high up, you generally gain a good view of the environment, team, enemy and battlefield. Not only is it wise because of the view, but by being high up when facing enemies at a lower level than you, it means you can often see “over” and behind a lot of cover, you can move forward to shoot and back to hide at your leisure and their annoyance, enemies generally get confused when shot at from a confusing angle and it’s actually harder to aim fast and accurately if you have to aim upwards at something. Since I mentioned earlier you should avoid skylining yourself, I suggest you try to stay away from the very top of buildings and landscape – they expect you to be there as well – and rather try to stay at least one level down. If you do use the very top, try to keep something behind you and around you to hide your silhouette. The other way around as well, moving and shooting from very low angles, can actually work to on the basis that the enemy might not expect it.

Fifthly, learn the maps. With everything else in mind, it becomes obvious that knowing the maps will give you a big advantage since it allows you to beforehand know of good and bad spots and routes. Various spots can be good or bad depending on the particular battle, but nevertheless some tend to be generally good and some generally bad. If you master this, it means you will be in a better position when trying to read and assess what’s going on, and be better armed and prepared to deal with any moves the enemy does. Something important to keep in mind here, is that fortunately for us, the maps are often large and actually have many spots, routes and ways, whether they are obvious or not. This is useful and important, since so many times you can see loads of people cramming into the same chokepoint, like a bridge, when there are actually secondary bridges or crossings on the sides, or it’s even possible to swim across the rivers and so on; the direct route is often not the best one, especially when you have five heavy enemy tanks concentrating their fire down that specific route.

As you have just heard about using cover and concealment, the other side of the story is that the enemy does this too. This is where the term “flanking” comes to use. Since also, cover and concealment is mostly directional, it means positions will have advantages and disadvantages. Whether an enemy is in the open, in bad, medium or good cover or concealment, it’s strictly always a good idea to move around to the sides and rear of an enemy, to flank the enemy. Whether you are facing a tank which generally speaking has good armor in the front, weaker armor at the sides and weakest armor in the rear or facing even a mere rifleman, regardless, it’s a better situation for you and a worse one for the enemy if you are around his flank where you effectively remove his potential cover advantage, you see and are able to shoot at him, and he, optimally, isn’t aware of you and isn’t pointing his weapon in your direction; it’s easier to shoot him in the back. To successfully flank, you have to combine speed, a covered route and creativity to get the jump on the enemy. You have to remember, that flanking the enemy could be something simple as moving around the other side of a building to kill a guy in a corner, to flanking wide around on the far sides of the map to flank that group of enemies that are pinning down your team’s advance. Anyways, the reason flanking often is so effective, is that the enemy simply doesn’t see it coming, and once they do it’s often too late. Using vehicles for this can really help, but since they’re big and loud you want to ensure you keep enough distance and you might want to leave the vehicles before closing in or going full speed to surprise them; bikes are a great alternative, as they’re relatively fast and silent.

Suppressing the enemy means firing at the enemy with loads of fire and/or accurate fire in such a way that it confuses him, makes it harder for him to observe, peek and shoot (accurately) and even pinning him so he finds it hard to move. You can ask yourself this:” Is it harder to fight someone who’s shooting back and moving from position to position, or to fight someone who can’t shoot back and can’t move?” What’s important here, is that the enemy thinks he’s at danger of getting shot if he tries to shoot or move. Clearly you want to be able to hit and kill him rather than just possibly scaring him, but if you are quickly on the move and can’t fire accurately, don’t have the weapon to engage accurately, can’t get a clear shot and so forth, shooting at the enemy can often be better than not shooting at all; either you contribute to suppressing him, or you might get a lucky hit. Combining suppression and flanking is very effective, since it means you combine distracting the enemy and confuse him so it’s easier to move in on his position or a position from which you can more easily kill him. This can work even when on your own, i.e. shooting at the corner the guy’s at while you move towards it, but can be devastating for the enemy if deployed en masse with a team using this. Suppressing works with any weapon, but as it tries to scare and confuse, using rapid firing weapons such as MGs, heavy hitting weapons like cannons and accurate weapons like scoped weapons usually work the best.

Ambushing can be used up close or from farther away to put yourself and team in a good position and suddenly attack the enemy when they least expect it in a vulnerable position for them. You, alone or as a team, want to position yourself in good positions and preferably from different sides and angles with as much hitting power as possible. The idea is to suddenly attack the enemy at a vulnerable place and time, to cause as much damage while receiving as little damage as possible; whether you are facing inferior or superior numbers and equipment, this if often a good tactic to cause loads of damage. An example is to lie in wait on two sides, place mines on the route and as soon as the enemy arrives and has the least cover around them, start throwing grenades at them, fire rockets at their vehicles, have snipers take out the most valuable targets and MGs just spraying down anything moving; anything to make it more confusing for them. After the ambush, regardless of the result, try to get out of there quickly and hit the enemy somewhere else.

Often you get fights where you’re about the same size on each team, although one team might have more vehicles and on. Generally speaking, you could try to match the enemy by bringing an equal amount of guys and equipment to an area as they do, but something that can be really effective is to focus your main strength at the most vital point – or crushing a weak point quickly before turning on the stronger – to achieve a shock and awe effect by turning the fight in your favor by bringing as much firepower, manpower and equipment that you destroy the enemy utterly before they’re able to react and counter. So often you see people complain that “why are you all over there? We have no one on this side!” which is often a true problem, but it can also work out if you have the majority focus on a specific point or area, given you move fast enough and decisive enough. This requires coordination, which arguably isn’t always easy in a random game with” randoms”, but you do occasionally come across aware players and/or you happen to be in a situation where you alone could be enough to tip the balance.

Although a lot of the unit types can do good against any other unit types if used well, some work better against others. On both a strategic and tactical level, keep in mind that different unit types perform differently in different types of terrain, different weather and against different types of enemies. A tank division can smash infantry in the open, but if tanks get stuck in rough terrain or urban terrain with all sorts of sneaky spots with AT infantry lying in wait, it can be the other way around. Let’s look at some general uses:

===Infantry:=== Infantry is extremely versatile as they have access to equipment, weapons, accessories and vehicles, enabling them to fight at close, medium and long range against other infantry, vehicles and even planes depending on the situation. Often most infantry will have rifles and grenades, but some carry SMGs, MGs, snipers, AT equipment and so on. This means the capability of the infantry often varies, as for example well-entrenched infantry fighting tanks won’t do as good without their own AT equipment. Generally speaking, as long as the infantry has available cover, concealment and various equipment they can take on anything. If they are in the open or don’t have the necessary equipment to deal with tanks and to some degree infantry, they can be in a lot of trouble fairly quickly.

===Paratrooper:=== The paratroopers carry less equipment than regular infantry, has a smaller selection of equipment, has AT equipment more seldom and has no vehicles and are thusly more specialized. The paratroopers can however utilize their ability to appear suddenly practically anywhere on the map, like behind enemy lines, on top of objectives and rooftops. Most often they carry SMGs, but the rifles and the MG for the German paratroopers add some flexibility. Because of the nature of the paratroopers, it means they can fight infantry, recon and light vehicles well up close, but if they are forced into long range battles or are up against heavy firepower and armor, they are in trouble. Paratroopers can like everyone else scavenge, meaning they can in that way become more well- equipped.

===Recon:=== The snipers are equipped for long range combat, but can carry some additional gear to deal with infantry or vehicles closer up. These can be used against practically anything under the right circumstance, as they can properly pepper infantry, paratrooper and other recon from afar, as well as take accurate shots at exposed chauffeurs and drivers in light vehicles, tanks and even at cocky pilots. They can also use their equipment to be in a good position to observe and provide information to the rest of the team. However, facing infantry or paratroopers at close range or any skilled vehicle crew means they can get overrun fast if not supported. In CQB maps and areas, and with anything else causing poor visibility such as fog and night, their performance tends to decrease.

===Light vehicles:=== This encompasses any jeeps, motorcycles, trucks, halftracks and scout cars. These have good maneuverability and can add quick and decent firepower, but can’t take too much of a beating. They have enough firepower to kill infantry and harass or damage vehicles depending on the type, and they also have the speed and maneuverability to transport foot soldiers quickly to objectives and around flanks. Against heavier vehicles they can often at minimum harass, and carrying AT crates or AT infantry they can use their speed to get around and cause more havoc.

===Tanks:=== Light tanks have speed, maneuverability and little firepower, medium tanks has less speed, less maneuverability but more firepower and heavy tanks have the least speed, least maneuverability but the most firepower. Therefore various tanks are best employed in different ways. Tanks tend to do well if they have a lot of space to move around in and avoid too much rough terrain, but still should have some cover and concealment to use themselves to be harder to spot and hit for enemy AT infantry, tanks and planes. Tanks have poor visibility apart from the option to zoom in with their cannons, so enemies can easily creep up on them if they’re not careful or being helped by their team to spot and warn. They should combine their firepower and speed by combining finding good spots and outmaneuvering the enemy.

===Tank destroyers:=== Tank destroyers like the hellcat can use their speed to outmaneuver their enemy- so essentially a light tank with a good cannon - , while the Stug and Hetzer have good firepower, armor and low profile which means they can do a lot of damage and should try to get into good positions where they are hard targets and out of range; since these two have no turret, it’s harder for them to deal with anything outmaneuvering them up close. Otherwise they practically operate similarly to tanks.

===Planes:=== The planes are good for using their MGs/cannons and bombs against other planes, tanks and groups of enemies. They can fight singular infantrymen, but that’s arguably a big waste. On open maps or in open areas particularly against slow enemies, they can do a considerably amount of damage by coming in for fast attack- and bombing runs. AA guns, MGs and even skilled marksmen can take out planes, but in the hands of a skilled pilot the pilot has a lot of the initiative; just remember that flying slow and too low means even the least equipped opponent can do some degree of damage.

By pressing M you get a map up, and by right-clicking the map zooms in. The map is crucial in helping you to read and assess what’s going on. It helps you see where the enemy is, where your team is, where supply crates are and so on. It’s such a simple but effective tool that there’s no reason not to use it.

Unless you are playing with friends and/or a group, getting consistent teamwork can be hard. The good news though, is that you as an individual can try to encourage the use of teamwork through the use of your words and actions. If you happen to be in a game together with a bunch of people you don’t know, you can still on your own accord utilize teamwork where you see an opportunity to do so. Moreover, occasionally you come across likeminded team players, where you are on the same wavelength. So, basically, instead of being the one bashing your team in chat, be the one that tries to pull the team together.

There are various vehicles in this game that can be used to get from A to B – sometimes literally – faster than just running on foot; the big majority of these vehicles can carry several people. The capability of being able to move from objective to objective faster, of being able to move to the critical spots, the frontline and the flanks more quickly is not only a tactical advantage, but it’s also a drag to have to use ages on running. Therefore, you should pick up team mates when you can. Obviously you need to use common sense, as in some situations picking up each and every single guy in the spawn can take ages and so on. You also have to remember that not everyone has access to vehicles or is able to grab a bike or truck, or you might have very few vehicles on a tactical and strategic level and in the long run carpooling helps by saving resources too. You also level up ribbons to unlock more vehicles for driving and driving other people, so help each other in that way as well. With that said, you do come across guys that just don’t want to share vehicles, whether they’re trying to do something special or maybe they’re just fans of running.

Communication is necessary to coordinate. That can be as simple as telling your team where there is a tank, to informing them of an open flank and other opportunities. Although preferably you should be using voice chat with your team, the text chat can also be important and strong. It can be enough to encourage guys to attack the most important objective – some might actually do it – and give short and concise descriptions of key targets, i.e. “Panzer III on hill East of O2”. It doesn’t have to be advanced or much, just short messages like that can really help; like in that case the one guy with AT might have a better idea of where to go.

It can be hard to do, but you should use all the knowledge that you know have and utilize it together to maximize the effect. It goes without saying that this guide could go on forever, and there’s plenty of stuff I haven’t included either consciously or subconsciously, I haven’t used ages on rewriting and there is plenty of areas I’m sure some people will either consider wrong or insufficient. However, I just wanted to lay out the foundation for aspects I consider important, and make sure it’s easy enough for beginners to comprehend, but at the same time be advanced enough for more experienced players to hopefully have something to take from. If there’s any topic or theme you want to know more about, I suggest you look for more material on the game’s wiki, online, other guides, youtube and so on. I wish you luck!

PS: This guide has been put several places by me to hopefully reach a wider audience, simply in the hope that it will reach more people interested in this kind of stuff. By all means, copy and paste this and share as you want, but name this original work as the source, please.

Made by [TNC]Lupus, last edited by the original author on 15.10.2014 13:55 PM UTC+1.

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